Petals in Darkness
by Teh Pocky Ninja
Summary: The thoughts I had that day, when you reappeared into my life...They changed how I viewed you. I promise you, someday, we can be together...But not now. The dobe is whining. -Rewrites of Shippuuden Sasuke's appearance in second-person. Mind-SasxSak.-


**Petals in Darkness**

* * *

You were having that dream again. The one where you were there, leaving. And she was there, begging you to stay. In your dream, her pleading words broke something inside you. In your dream your bag dropped to the ground as you turned back, running to embrace her, whispering "I'm sorry," and promising never to leave her and she cried in relief, sobbing "Sasuke, Sasuke…"

But then you awoke, and the wall next to your bed in the Sound compound greeted you. You might very well have gone back to sleep…if not for the presence outside your door.

"What do you want…?" you grumbled sleepily, sure it was another henchman with some inane request from the snake ninja.

"You are Sasuke Uchiha," said the unfamiliar voice. A man's speech, a young one. Probably not much older than you. "I have been sent to kill you."

In the darkness of your room, you rolled your eyes. Kabuto again, with one of his stupid exercises in "revealing the enemy." Always disguising himself or some failed experiment and attacking you with it, the nerve of him…

"Normally I would carry out my orders in a situation like this," the voice continues, "but…there are some outside who'd like to see you. Ones you share bonds with."

Again a sarcastic eye-roll. He's tried this old trick before, saying Leaf ninja are knocking at the doors to come take you home. You decide you'll play along for a bit, then go back to your nap.

"You woke me up to talk about _bonds_?" you grumble in annoyance, forcing yourself up from your nice, soft bed and stretching your arms and legs for a moment, muttering curses under your breath.

Some scraping noise comes from outside your door, but you're ready. You always kept your Kusanagi under your pillow, and it's still there when you reach for it. Now just might be the perfect time to see how quickly you can finish this little test. Your last record was forty-two seconds.

Now you prove that spending several hours laying bombs outside your room in case of intrusion wasn't a waste of time at all. An entire wing of that stupid underground hideout is blown sky-high with a delightful explosion of debris. Trying to gain a vantage point in case more opponents would appear, you dashed up the small crater you had just made with easy confidence. Orochimaru wouldn't punish you for what you'd just done. He never punished his precious Uchiha.

The sun warmed the back of your neck as you stood over the giant hole in the ground you'd just created. Huh, you think. There's only one of them this time. Some plain-looking, robotic-faced punching bag with the world's ugliest outfit. You are aware of the hypocrisy, wearing those silly half-kimonos His Pedophileness gives you, but hey. You really aren't up for the challenge of refusing and walking around with no clothes on.

From a section of still-intact hallway leading out to your newly-formed crater, you hear the sound of running footsteps. So this sad excuse for a training exercise had backup after all. Just as well, you were beginning to think this would be too easy.

Out of nowhere, a head of unmistakable pink hair appears in your line of sight.

Though you didn't show it, your heart skipped a beat as she turned and gaped at you. It was _her_. _Really_ her. After all this time, she'd come to see you as willingly as ever. How on earth had she gotten here?

Careful to keep your face blank, you studied her. Her hair was still choppy and short, but you always liked it that way. Whoever started that rumor that you liked long hair was an idiot. You only grinned to yourself on the inside as you examined the rest of her. Clean, practical clothing, not revealing in the least. Modest Sakura. Not like some of those idiot girls who thought you _wanted_ to see their unmentionables.

Your skilled eyes pick out minute details, mulling over them as she stares at you, flabbergasted. You notice the scrapes on her little black gloves, probably from hitting things with her fists. She's covered in twigs and dirt, but the outdoorsy effect it gives off is actually rather entertaining to your eyes.

Somewhere, in the very back of your mind where some miniscule bit of you keeps records of known females for the eventual choosing of a wife, you are pleased. Though, in a second it turns to gut-gnawing uneasiness. Here she is, looking at you for the first time in years, and you are practically a mess. You haven't brushed your hair, you haven't even changed clothes after your post-training nap, your shirt is hanging open because you went right to sleep in it, your sash is loose, your shoes are on the incorrect feet, and a million other things are wrong all at once. But it's the look of wonder on her face that almost, almost makes up for it.

And right on cue, your orange-wearing, loudmouthed dobe decides to charge in and ruin the moment. He stands there for a minute or so, his big dumb mouth hanging open. You only glare, wishing he hadn't come along as well.

The group itself seems to have become a bunch of chatterboxes (excluding your good little Sakura, of course.) All it takes is a simple enquiry as to where Kakashi's gone, and they launch into monologues about love and bonds and friendship. You immediately feel sick to your stomach from the sheer cheese of it all.

Almost immediately, your stupid, sniveling Inner personality decides to prod you in the temples, begging _Yes, let's go home and forget all this Sound garbage, we can have Sakura if we go home, come on…_

Mentally brushing aside the imaginary entity, you send Naruto your best sneer. You can practically see his anger flaring. Or perhaps that's just the orange stuff you know comes out when he's mad. You ponder for a second on what might happen if the two of you were to go head-to-head at this very moment. Not such a good idea, you decide, as someone (Sakura) might get caught in the blasts. Last time you nearly leveled a whole valley.

You take another glance at him, the _other_ one. His Leaf headband says he's part of their group. So it wasn't a test after all. No matter, he still looks expendable.

_Your replacement_, your Inner observes grimly. _Shut up,_ you reply.

You send a cold "severed bonds" line at them, hoping to shut them up. Naruto seems to have been suddenly caught up in a flashback, rendering him silent. But of course, then he starts up with the whole failed-attempt-to-beat-his-brains-out back at the Valley. _Now_ you grumble to yourself for having to resort to abandoning your nice little perch, and are at his side in an instant, shutting him up again for now.

Another couple of insults to his strength, and you decide to give him a good scare. An attempt to slice his head off should do the trick. If you succeed, he'll be rendered incapacitated, and if you fail, well, he'll at least stop blabbering.

Ugh. That stupid plastic-y kid, the replacement, got in the way. How annoying of him. You'll figure out a suitable way to deal with him later, but now, you've got a fight on your hands. With Sakura in the vicinity. Meaning, absolute precision must be used to ensure you don't leave a scratch on her.

Revealing a trick you would've liked to have kept for later, you promptly electrocute the three males of the troupe. They fall quickly, leaving only you and Sakura standing. She looks absolutely shocked, but your mind is rather occupied at the moment with a fleeting fantasy of carrying her away right now, leaving these pathetic excuses for ninja far, far behind.

A patter of footsteps, and she is suddenly rushing towards you with determination in her eyes. She wants to stop you. How cutely heroic of her, you think, not in a sneering way as you used to, but a gently chastising tone. She's gotten over that nasty habit of freezing up during a crisis, good for her. But now you're afraid you'll have to give her a scare as well, perhaps with enough give that a little sword cut and a small shock won't hurt her too much.

But that stupid guy with the wood powers, Kakashi's replacement, he'd said, gets in the way. How _dare_ he, you mutter in your head, punishing him with a stab to the shoulder. The electricity in the blade will paralyze him quickly, and he should now know better than to get between you and your Sakura.

Oh, wait. It seems Naruto's having another internal battle. You'd better wrap this up, as if he gets all covered in that orange stuff again, there's no telling what messes he'll get into. One fun little mind trick learned from Orochimaru, and you open your eyes to see Naruto standing in a dank room, whining to some giant fox-ish animal made entirely out of glowing bubbles.

This kid's mind is _seriously_ messed up.

Of course, he acts all bewildered when you show up. But dear _god_, the fox is a talker too. No wonder you left the village, having to put up with all this yammering is deathly after two years of relative peace and quiet. Annoyed, you give the fox a poke, and it _explodes_. Now if only Naruto would do the same…

And you're now back in the real world, glaring at Naruto's bugged-out expression with your sword still through Wood-Guy's shoulder. He pulls some trick, and manages to dislodge the blade _and_ try to trap you in a little woody prison. Fortunately, you can easily smash your way out of it, and get your nice perch back up at the rim of the crater.

And Naruto's now whingeing about how you're going to be possessed by the King of All Pedophiles if you don't come home. You hardly plan on allowing that to happen, but telling him otherwise will probably drive home all that "severed bonds" jazz. But seriously, eww…As if the old guy didn't try touching you enough already, giving you stupid-looking clothes just so he can stare at you…What a crusty old freak. You'll have some fun running him through with something sharp once you've learned enough from him.

Now, you are bored. All this talking and overpowering is no fun anymore. Although getting to see Sakura was a treat, the other three are annoying, like little bugs that won't go away. You'll finish up with a flashy exit, and go off to ponder things in a non-destroyed part of the base.

And just as you raise your hand to give them another explosion, who shows up? Your own personal child molester. (Hey, you're only sixteen. Still a minor. It counts.) And _gross_, he's _touching_ you again. Granted, it's only on the wrist, but _ewww_, clammy wrinkled skin on yours…Forget running off to train, now you'll have to go take _another_ shower to get the dirty feeling off…

And he's telling you off. Sort of. Going all, no flashy exits, you're a naughty boy for blowing up the base and you will go straight to your room until you can learn to behave yourself. Well, not in so many words, but you've been around long enough to pick up the signals.

Oh geez, he brought _Kabuto_ with him. The guy's just as bad as he is, experimenting on dead things and liking every minute of it. He's making up some lame excuse to let the Leaf nins live, going on about how they'll snuff the Akatsuki for you. It's a fat, steaming load of BS, and you tell him so on the spot. Snakey-pedo decides to break it up, and finally lets go of your wrist with an order to retreat.

The last thing you get to see before the three of you vanish, is Sakura. Forget Naruto and his stupid friendship, forget Kakashi, forget the stupid Leaf village. All you want is her. Your pretty, stubborn, conflicted, mature Sakura. It might have to wait a while, but someday you'll have her for your own. Preferably after Itachi's been taken out, so he won't pose a threat to her. Yes…she'll be a wonderful cure for those bouts of loneliness where all you want to do is sit and cry like a little boy. She'll be sure to fix that.

Someday, she will be yours.

* * *

-

YEY CYNICISM. Haven't had that in a while. Haven't had many oneshots finished in a while either. Eh, school and such gets in the way. Blarg, exams...


End file.
